Customer Reviews

The Paramount Comedy Shorts 1928-1942: Robert Benchley and the Knights of the Algonquin

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Okay, the picture quality may not be pristine, but considering the rarity of the prints, it is more than passable. The previous reviewer should have been around 60 years ago to bitch and complain enough to make the brain-dead exectutives at Paramount take better care of their film library. They didn't, and as a result, all we have of these classic Benchley efforts are second and third generation prints, of which the digital transfer emphasizes every little flaw. As for the shorts themselves, they may not be on par with the best of Benchley's efforts at MGM, but they are stil imaginative and enjoyable. Also enjoyable are the three shorts featuring Alexander Woollcott and Donald Ogden Stewart. All told, this is an excellent DVD package that improves upon its previous VHS incarnation. Now, if only MGM would get on the ball, and release a collection of their Benchley shorts, as opposed to releasing them piece-meal as extra features on other DVDs. Here's hoping.

I first reviewed this title when it was released on VHS, and wasn't totally impressed with the quality or selection of the shorts contained in it. I thought it would be good to have the DVD version though, despite my qualms. I was surprised to find that the DVD contains five additional Benchley Paramount shorts, giving us all nine of the shorts that Benchley made for Paramount from 1940 to 1942. In my previous review, I said that some of the titles were from reissue prints and so lacked the original titles. Kino seems to have found original prints with the original titles (with one exception), and has replaced them for the DVD. The print quality of the shorts is generally good, not perfect, but not terrible either. I own 16mm prints of many of the shorts, so for example, it was good to see a better print of KEEPING IN SHAPE than I already own. Recommended for those who would like to see all of his Paramount shorts.

I love Robert Benchley shorts as seen on TCM; they are so clean and crisp in picture quality and I expected the same in this expensive Paramount collection. Instead, each short is more faded than the cheapest Alpha video. I've never been more disappointed and would return them for a refund if possible.

For die-hard Robert Benchley lovers, this is a must-own even if the visual quality of the shorts leaves much to be desired. They don't seem to have been restored or remastered and look faded and grainy. It's great to have them, nonetheless, and while Benchley's understated humor now seems a little muted, his charming manner and his little throwaway gestures, expressions and delivery are still fun, even if the comedy lacks its original impact. The pieces are amusing if not always laugh-out-loud funny, probably because so many of his ideas have by now been imitated and become comic cliches in the intervening 68 years. These are definitely relics but well worth watching anyway.